In a surgical operation, a drainage tube for draining fluids in the thoracic cavity or abdominal cavity is often used. In the method for retaining the drainage tube using the example of a thoracic cavity drainage tube, first, one end of the drainage tube is inserted into the body from an incised portion in the thoracic cavity during the surgery, for example. A loculus that connects to the thoracic cavity is also formed from the portion of the body surface positioned near the aforementioned incised portion. Then a removal member, e.g., forceps, is slipped into the thoracic cavity through the aforementioned loculus, and one end of the drainage tube is gripped.
Then the removal member is pulled out leaving the other end of the drainage tube in the thoracic cavity. By so doing, one end of the drainage tube leads out of the body, and the other end of the drainage tube is left in the thoracic cavity. In this state, a suction bag or the like is connected to the one end of the drainage tube, and by applying negative pressure to the one end of the drainage tube relative to the other end, pus, blood, or other exudates are discharged through the discharge tube outside the body (suction bag).
In the aforementioned discharge tube retention method, a forceps is generally used as the removal member, and when the end of the discharge tube is pulled out of the body by the forceps, the forceps sometimes cannot satisfactorily grip the discharge tube. For this reason, shaping the end portion of the discharge tube by cutting it on a slant to make it easy to grip with the forceps or attaching a gripping tool to the end of the discharge tube to facilitate gripping of the discharge tube have been proposed.
In addition, in Japanese Kokai Utility Model No. 2[1990] 77054 a method is proposed wherein an advance part is attached to one end of the discharge tube, a guide wire is passed inside the advance part, and the end of the discharge tube is guided outside the body by guiding the discharge tube along the guide wire.
The loculus formed in the body for slipping the removal member into the body when the end of the discharge tube is pulled out with a removal member such as forceps should preferably be a small as possible in order to reduce the burden on the patient. Therefore, when the removal member gripping an end of the discharge tube is pulled out of the body, it must be pulled so that the discharge tube follows in a direction parallel to the direction that the removal member is pulled out in order for the sectional area through which the discharge tube passes when passing through the loculus to be smaller. However, with existing removal technology, the discharge tube is not necessarily limited to being gripped following the direction that the removal member is pulled out and is often gripped at an angle to the direction that the removal member is pulled out. With such a gripping state, because the discharge tube is pointed at an angle relative to the direction the removal member is pulled out, the discharge tube sometimes interferes, and the discharge tube cannot be pulled out of a loculus that has a small surface area.